A new study suggests a link between exposure to air pollution in early childhood and the development of psychiatric disorders. Explanations.
- The impact of air pollution on health is even greater in children, whose nervous system is still developing, and therefore more sensitive and vulnerable to stale air than that of adults.
- Some 40,000 people die each year from the consequences of air pollution, according to Public Health France. And worldwide, it is responsible for around 7 million deaths on average per year, according to a WHO study.
Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, lung cancer, reduced life expectancy… Air pollution has disastrous consequences on our health. And this, from an early age: while more than three out of four children breathe polluted air, according to the World Health Organization, many studies have proven that it explodes the probability of suffering from asthma, allergies or cognitive disorders – among others. According to a new study, there is even a link between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and the first years of life, and the development of psychiatric disorders.
The structure of the brain is altered by air pollution
To achieve these results, published in the journal Environmental Pollutionscientists from the Barcelona Global Institute of Health (ISGlobal) analyzed data from some 3,500 children enrolled in a cohort study conducted over several years in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. To determine each participant’s exposure to air pollution, they calculated the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5, capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and bloodstream) at their home during their mother’s pregnancy and until they reach the age of eight and a half. (It should be noted that the pollution thresholds recorded met the standards of the European Union, but exceeded those of the World Health Organization). A few years later, the researchers then gave the children a brain MRI to examine the effects of air pollution on the structure of their brains.
The conclusions are clear: the greater the exposure of the child before the age of 5, the more the structure of the brain in preadolescence is altered. And, the study recalls, it has been shown that a “abnormal structure of cerebral white matter [qui assure la connexion entre les différentes zones du cerveau] was associated with certain psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety or autism spectrum disorders (ASD)”.
Children particularly affected by air pollution
That’s not all. The overexposure of toddlers to fine particles would also have the effect of increasing the volume of their putamen, an area of the brain responsible, among other things, for motor function and learning. However, the larger the putamen in preadolescence, the greater the risk of developing psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
“We should follow and continue to measure the same parameters in this cohort to analyze the possible long-term effects on the brain of exposure to air pollution”, explains Mònica Guxensone of the authors of the study and researcher at ISGlobal, who recalls the importance of protecting children as a priority, whose nervous system is still developing and therefore more vulnerable.
The impact of air pollution on the well-being of children – even of the fetus during pregnancy – is regularly singled out. Since September alone, we now know that exposure to air pollution upsets the development of the intestinal microbiome of infants, potentially causing obesity and diabetes, or even increases the risk of children with autism. to be hospitalized.
